Use of bone and otolith measures for size-estimation of fish in predator-prey studies

Abstract

To estimate the size of fish taken as prey by piscivorous predators, linear or non-linear relationships between bone measures (pharyngeal, opercula, cleithra, anal and dorsal spine bones, otoliths) and body length were elaborated for eleven Eurasian cyprinid fish species captured in three lakes of Turkey: rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus, Baltic vimba Vimba vimba, Danube bleak Chalcalburnus chalcoides, gibel carp Carassius gibelio, roach Rutilus rutilus. silver bream Blicca bjoerkna, common carp Cyprinus carpio, chub Leuciscus cephalus, Dnieper chub Petroleuciscus borysthenicus, tench Tinca tinea and tarek Alburnus tarichi (endemic species for Lake Van). All calculated regressions were highly significant, with coefficients of determination >81 % in most of cases. The results suggest that the biometric relationships between fish length and some bones (pharyngeal, opercula, cleithra) are well suited for use in prey-predator studies of all the studied species, but otoliths and the dorsal and anal spines can be used for some fish species only (rudd, Baltic vimba, roach, silver bream, gibel carp).